How Do You Grieve Properly?
According to thanatologists, specialists in the study of death, dying, and bereavement, there is no single correct way to grieve. Grief is a natural, whole-body response to loss that affects us psychologically, biologically, socially, culturally, and spiritually. Healthy grieving means allowing yourself to feel the pain, stay connected to what you lost, and gradually adapt to life without it. The research team at Help Texts, led by Thanatologists like Rah Adams, MS, CT , and Melissa Lunardini, PhD, MA, MBA, FT, work with grieving people across 61 countries and consistently find that the biggest barrier to healthy grief is the pressure to move on too soon.
What Does "Grieving Properly" Actually Mean?
The idea that there is a right way to grieve is one of the most persistent and harmful myths about loss. For decades, pop psychology promoted the five stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance) as a linear roadmap, but grief is not a straight line and doesn’t have a finish line.
Clinicians and thanatologists agree on the fact that healthy grieving is grief that is felt, processed, and integrated, not avoided, suppressed, or rushed.
According to a research published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, SMS has played a critical role in the advancement of mobile health, this is because support works best when it is accessible, consistent, and ongoing, not a single intervention at the moment of loss.
Help Texts delivers expert-written, personalized grief support via text message, making it available to people wherever they are. Our published research shows 95% acceptability rate and 90% six-month retention, Help Texts reaches grieving people in 61 countries and 28 languages, guided by a team of thanatologists and grief specialists.
Get Help Texts for only $9.99 USD/month.
Source: Dobson, R., Whittaker, R., Abroms, L. C., Bramley, D., Free, C., McRobbie, H., Stowell, M., & Rodgers, A. (2024). Don’t Forget the Humble Text Message: 25 Years of Text Messaging in Health. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 26, e59888. https://doi.org/10.2196/59888